need advice for tank cleaning

[nurselady]

my tank is over a year old. 10 gal.

i have never cleaned it out--only add water when the water level goes down. have well water. fish have been fine. only lost a few in a year. have 5 zebras and 2 tetras of some sort.

the hood is all gunked up with goo stuff and tank needs a good cleaning. cousin told me to put the fish in a bucket of water and then empty entire tank...wash rocks (rinse well)...put everything back....fill up with water...and put fish back in.

is this the correct way???? they have no problems doing it this way. they have turtles and convicts.

i really want to rid myself of this 10 gal and get a 30.

thanks for any tips you may have to offer.

nurselady

 

[LittlePuff]

Get the 30 ready and cycle it. then slowly add your fish from the 10. Then you can clean the whole thing out and get something else for the 10. And keep them clean from now on

Kim

 

[newaridiar]

Do not clean your tank this way. If your tank has never had a water change then it probably has some very high levels of waste. You may think this means you must give them brand new sparkly clean water right away, but this could kill your fish. IF your tank has high levels of ammonia, nitrite or nirate and your fish are still alive after a year, then they have adapted to the water and the quick change from extremes could kill them.


Secondly, cleaning your tank this way will kill your biological filter. You should never clean all of your gravel at one time, and you should not change more than 50% of your water under almost any conditions.

My suggestion would be to get a sponge a bucket, and a siphon with a gravel vaccum attachment to use for just for the fish tank. Make sure the sponge has no soap in it, this can kill the bacteria that break down the waste your fish produce (the biological filter).
Use the sponge, soaked in tank water to wipe the glass and hood of your tank clean.
Then using the bucket and syphon take one to two gallons of water out of your tank and replace it with clean water (make sure it has no cholorine in it and is close in temperature to your tank water)

If your LFS will test tank water I suggest you take a cup of your tank water in regularly to make sure your tank is doing well. If they do not, or there is no LFS in your area, I suggest you buy your own test kit.

Keep changing your tank water every other day until it is heathier.

HTH

 

[nurselady]

thanks for the info.

since my water evaporates by 1/2 every couple of weeks, i fill it back up anyway.

here are my dipstick results.
nitrAte-way HIGH
nitrIte--normal
hardness- HARD
alkalinity- low
pH-low
any suggestions???????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[nodoubt471]

try doing the water changes like newaridiar suggested. after that test the water again, that should have some affect on the nitrates. if you could list the actual numbers esp for pH that would be great. what kind of fish do you keep in this tank?